


Fireproof

by amibleeding_fromthestorm



Category: Green Day
Genre: Drama, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-23
Updated: 2018-05-22
Packaged: 2019-04-27 00:10:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14413449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amibleeding_fromthestorm/pseuds/amibleeding_fromthestorm
Summary: Taylor battles fires and saves lives for a living and she loves what she does. She has been through hell the last few years of her life though which sometimes puts her in moods where she couldn't care less if she lives or dies. That's the mood she was in the morning of the call that could potentially change her life forever, for better or for worse.





	1. Here I Go Again On My Own

**Author's Note:**

> We will see how this goes...let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions for future chapters! I unfortunately do not own Green Day.

I sat in the parking lot of the firehouse in my truck, running the events of the morning through my head for what seemed like the 829th time already. The shock had long since worn off, being replaced by anger towards myself as well as my now ex-fiance’, but I had thankfully managed to hold the tears off until I had gathered my stuff and gotten in my truck to leave. Crying only generated more anger towards myself because I saw crying as a huge weakness which only happened if I was extremely mad or upset about something. After being with Seth for three years and walking in on him cheating on me with my best friend this morning, I couldn’t deny the hurt that was behind these tears too. I told myself that even though I was upset and hurt, it had already been done and there was nothing I could do about it, so there really was no point in continuing to cry over it.  
I grabbed my huge Coast Guard duffel bag from the back seat and managed to almost make it through the firehouse to the bathroom without being seen, but my other best friend Tommy was in the kitchen and saw me as I passed through. He had a look of confusion on his face because I wasn’t supposed to work until tomorrow morning, but it quickly turned to concern when he realized that I wasn’t going to stop to talk to him and that something was obviously bothering me. I never looked back and was happy that I made it to the bathroom and got the door locked without anyone else noticing me and trying to talk to me.  
I took a long hot shower trying to relax my extremely tense body which helped a little but not much. Even though I wasn’t technically on duty I went ahead and dressed in my black uniform pants and white uniform shirt. I proudly admired the Lieutenant symbol that I had recently acquired on the chest of the shirt and reminded myself that I still had my fire department family behind my back.  
“Taylor?”  
I heard the unmistakable gruff voice of the Captain of the house calling from just outside the bathroom door. Jeb was an older man who had led a hard life and he was a man of very few words but when he spoke, those around him listened. The man knew his shit when it came to fighting fires and I had learned so much from him over my time at the department. He had taken me under his wing after the incident that changed my life and after losing my dad. Tommy had probably tipped him off that I was here and as much as I loved working, Jeb knew there were things that I was tied up with right now and should have been out doing instead of being here. He wasn’t dumb.  
“Yeah?” I called.  
“Can I come in? Are you dressed?”  
I unlocked the door without answering him and he walked in, locking the door back behind him since everyone shared the community bathroom and showers so we wouldn’t be interrupted.  
“Alright.” He said, propping up against a small table by the door. He crossed his arms across his chest and looked at me almost threateningly. “What’s going on?”  
I tried to play innocent even though I knew it wouldn’t work. “What makes you think something’s going on? I just decided to come into work early today.”  
His face remained emotionless. “So you cancelled your flight practice then for your airshow next weekend?”  
Shit. I had forgotten about meeting the guys today for one last practice in the planes before the air show next weekend. “Er, something like that.”  
“Don’t lie to me Lieutenant.”  
I sighed and placed my hands on the sink in front of me, staring down into it like I had gotten in trouble or something. There was no way out of this one. “Seth got mad because I stayed with Criss last night so he decided to cheat on me with my best friend and I walked in on that this morning. Not only that, but he got mad at me when I got furious with him and made it seem like any rational adult would have done the same thing if their better half had spent the night with someone of the opposite sex.”  
Jeb’s eyes narrowed, something that those who worked for him had learned quickly was not a good sign. That usually either meant we were about to get a lecture or you were on his shit list until further notice. I could be pretty hard headed at times and had disobeyed his orders on more than one occasion while working so I was no stranger to this look, only this time I hadn’t done anything.  
“He cheated on you, huh?”  
“Yep.” I said quietly. “Hell, who knows. Maybe I deserved it.”  
“Look at me, Lieutenant.”  
I did as he said.  
“Do not ever let me hear you say that again, you hear me? That’s an order. I’ve never been a huge fan of Seth personally and I’m glad he’s never requested to work for my department. You don’t give yourself enough credit, Taylor. Criss is pretty banged up and needs some help and you were nice enough to give up your time to go and be with him as a friend. That’s what most people would have done. What Seth did was extremely low and sorry and there’s never any excuse for cheating on someone but him using that as his reason for doing so makes him a sorry son of a bitch. Do not think for one second that this is your fault or that you deserved it.”  
“Yes sir.” I answered, knowing that he was right.  
“Come here.”  
Before I had time to register what he had said, he had pulled me into a tight hug, something he hadn’t done since my first few months working at the department. I was shocked at his actions, but I couldn’t deny that a good hug was exactly what I needed right now.  
“Thanks, Jeb.” I said as he finally let me go what felt like an eternity later. “So, do you mind if I hang out here for today and tonight? I’m not really up to going home just yet.”  
“Go get your practice in for the air show and unwind some and come back tonight. There’s a concert at the arena tonight and you and Tommy can go take the ambulance and work. Is that fair?”  
I smiled. He was right, a few hours in my plane would probably do me some good. “Yeah, that’s fair. Thanks, Jeb. By the way, do you know what concert it is?”  
“Some band you listen to around here all the time. Green Bay or Green Stay. Something like that. You know I don’t do music.”  
“Green Day?!” I asked.  
“Yeah, that’s it.”  
Well, this day just might get a little better.


	2. Cupcakes and Bandaids

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cupcakes and Band-aids

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any thoughts so far?

I was feeling a good bit better after spending some time up in the air with my flight team in our P-51’s and T-6 Texans, getting our last practice in before our air show in Wisconsin this upcoming weekend. Not only that, but working concerts meant we got to hang out backstage and side stage during the show to take care of the handful of fans who were always up for trying anything, and the other handful who always got caught up in the middle of those who were always up for trying anything. Tonight’s show had been pretty low key though and I had to admit the excitement that I felt when the bands walked by us in the hallway on their way to take the stage, especially Green Day. I had been a fan of the band for a long time now and my twin brother Jamie had been an even bigger fan. We had managed to catch a few shows together in between the chaos of us living our separate lives. I had no doubt that he would probably have been pretty jealous of me tonight.

“Well, that wasn’t too bad.” Tommy said as the show ended and the controlled chaos of packing up started.

“Nah.” I agreed.

“You alright?” He asked. “You’ve been spacing out here and there.”

He had been keeping a close eye on me and trying to cheer me up and keep me happy after hearing about my morning which was normal for him. He understood me better probably than anyone else and treated me like his little sister that he was very protective over.

“Yeah, I’m good. Really.”

“Alright. I’m going to go take this stuff back out to the ambulance.” He said grabbing our gear bags off of the stretcher.

“Okay. I’ll be right here.”

He disappeared into the crowd of people as I checked my cell to respond to a text message about travel arrangements to Wisconsin for the weekend. I made a quick visit to the aviation weather website to check the weather forecast for our day of travel and I had just put my phone back into my pocket when three very sweaty members of Green Day came walking by, one of them somewhat covered in blood.

“Hey, do you guys have any bandaids? I apparently sliced my finger on something on my guitar during that last song.” The frontman, Billie Joe Armstrong asked as he walked up to me.

“Well, I would say yes only my buddy just took our bags back to the ambulance. We can walk out there though and get one.”

“Yeah, that would be awesome.”

“I’m dead and think I need a ride out to the ambulance!” The blue haired drummer Tre’ said as he climbed up onto the stretcher and pretended to be dead, complete with his tongue hanging out of his mouth.

“Mike, quick! He needs mouth to mouth! I’ll do chest compressions!” Billie said as he straddled Tre’ on the stretcher and began to lightly press on his chest. 

I kept a straight face as Mike stood on a rail on the bottom of the stretcher and actually rested his mouth on the drummer’s as I wheeled the three of them through the back corridor of the arena earnings lots of looks of laughs as we went. Someone opened the back doors for us and we busted out into the humid night air, arriving to the back of the ambulance just as Tommy was closing the doors.

“I’ve got one in cardiac arrest! Get the defibrillator now!” I said to Tommy who was still trying to figure out if this was real or not. I shot him a grin to let him know everything was indeed okay here.

“O..kay. That’s my cue to come back to life. That was some good CPR and mouth to mouth boys. It’s been real!” Tre’ said quickly rolling off of the stretcher and onto his feet, running away as if nothing had happened. Mike went in a separate way, laughing and Billie went back to nursing his still bleeding finger with a smile on his face.

“What the hell just happened?” Tommy asked, still confused.

“Nothing. We saved the day. Crisis averted. Way to be ready though!” I told him before turning back to Billie. “Mind if I take a look at your finger?”

“Yeah, sure.” He said holding his hands out.

“That’s actually a pretty deep cut.” I said after inspecting it. 

“I don’t need stitches do i? Please say no.”

“No, I think you narrowly escaped that. I have some dermabond I can put on it. It’s a skin glue. Let’s get in and I’ll get you fixed up.”

“You’re awesome.”

Butterflies swarmed my stomach as he smiled at me before we climbed into the back of the ambulance and I had no idea why. I should be wanting to kill anything with a dick after what happened to me this morning, but it had been a long time since I had felt butterflies like that and it was sort of a welcomed feeling. It was just because this guy was crazy famous and was talking to me and only talking to me so I could do my job. Nothing more, calm down Taylor.

I had him lay on the stretcher so that I could move about the ambulance easier and I laid a paper cloth over his thigh for him to rest his still bleeding hand on. I grabbed some saline out of one compartment, some gloves, different kinds of gauze, and the skin glue before sitting down on one of the built in benches next to the stretcher. I poured some saline over his finger earning a very loud hiss of pain from him. He silenced himself by biting his other hand.

“Shit, I’m sorry. I should have warned you. I guess I’m use to most of my patients being unconscious and most of the time we just cover wounds with gauze until we get to the hospital.”

“No, no worries. I’m okay. It’s kind of funny how I can go sit for hours getting scratched with needles to get a tattoo and it’s relaxing but a little cut like this hurts like a bitch, y’know?”

“I do know.” I said, pushing my long sleeves up to reveal full sleeve tattoos on my arms.

“Holy shit! Nice! You don’t seem like a tattoo kind of girl.”

“Don’t judge a book by its cover.”

“That’s true too.”

We fell silent again while I continued to bandage up his finger. It took a while to get it cleaned out good then I had to apply the skin glue and wait for it seal and then bandage it up for him. I sat back after I had finished and gave him some extra gauze and tape in case he needed to change the bandage.

“You alright there? You seem like you have a lot on your mind.” He broke the silence as I cleaned up the mess I had made. “And thanks, by the way. It feels much better.”

Damn, he was good. I tried my best to never let my personal life interfere with work, but my mind had drifted a couple of times in the silence. I guess I had let it show on my face too much. The butterflies bombarded my stomach again with his question, not only because he had recognized something was on my mind, but because he had asked about it.

“No problem on the hand. And yeah, I’m okay. Just been one of those weeks y’know?”

He gave me a sincere, sympathetic smile sending me almost into shock again. I had expected him to get up and run out of the ambulance as soon as he could and be a prick like most rockstars would be, but he seemed to be in no hurry at all and he seemed genuinely concerned about whatever was bothering me.

“Well, I hope tonight at least made it a little better?” He cocked his head to one side and raised his eyebrows, as if worried that my answer was going to be no.

“Uh, duh. Of course it did.”

He chuckled. “Awesome. Hey, do you like cupcakes?”

I gave him a look of disbelief, not believing that he was even asking me that. I mean, who didn’t like cupcakes?! “Hell yeah I do.”

“Well, I just thought I would ask first. You look really skinny and…” His eyes drifted up and down my body a time or two and for a second I felt extremely self conscious and vulnerable. I mean, if I hadn’t been good enough for Seth there was no telling what this guy was thinking right now. “super in shape.” He finished.

“Trust me, that doesn’t stop me from eating my sweets. I’ve been known to take out an entire cookie cake in a day before.” That was an accomplishment I was quite proud of.

“Holy shit.” Billie laughed. “I’ll be right back then.”

“Okay.” I smiled as he climbed out of the ambulance. 

Tommy climbed in behind him, shutting the door and he just sat there staring at me with a sly grin on his face.

“What’s that look for?” I finally asked after realizing he wasn’t going to just offer any details.

“Sweetheart, I do believe Billie Joe Armstrong is all out flirting with you right now.”

“Oh my god.” I should have known. “You can take that shit elsewhere because there’s no way he was flirting with me and even if he was, anything with a penis that comes near me is in dire jeopardy of serious injury or death, including you and you’re little random out of this world ideas, so if I were you I would be slowing my roll a little bit. I don’t even want to think about males or relationships right now. All I want to focus on right now is fighting fires and playing with my airplanes. Is that so much to ask?”

He shrugged, the sly smirk never leaving his face. I was seriously about to nut punch him. That would get his attention.

“Hey, ninety-five percent of my job consists of reporting facts of what happened to various people and I’m very good at that. I’m simply just stating the facts of what I just witnessed.”

I threw a pack of rolled up gauze at him. “You weren’t even in here, dumbass, so how are you stating the facts of what you witnessed?”

“I heard the entire conversation. Same difference.”

Our argument was interrupted by the door opening again and Billie Joe appearing with two cupcakes in his hands. Tommy gave me a smirk and slipped out of the back of the ambulance leaving the two of us to our cupcakes. 

“Someone gave me a whole box of these today and I can’t eat them all, so maybe this will make your day a little bit better too.” Billie Joe said handing me a cupcake. 

“Oh my gosh, thank you.”

He sat and ate a cupcake with me, making small talk for a few more minutes before he had to leave to go do his usual rockstar routine. He thanked me again for bandaging up his finger and very briefly wrapped his arm around my shoulder before disappearing into the night, leaving me sitting there wondering if the last hour or so had been real. Hell, I was beginning to wonder if everything today had been real or not. Part of me had that strong feeling that I would wake up at any point and be laying next to Seth all pissed off because I had had an amazing dream about helping Billie Joe Armstrong that would never come true. Little did I know that shit was about to get even more real.


	3. Just Shine A Light Into The Wreckage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shoutout to GreenGray03! Thanks for reading and leaving a comment!

The bells in the firehouse went off bright and early the next morning, much to my frustration. I had stayed up way too late talking and thinking way too deeply with Tommy. He knew things about my past that no one else did and one conversation led to another and another until we had talked well into the early hours of the morning. Tommy just somehow seemed to always have the perfect things to say and advice that made all the sense in the world, which right now didn’t matter because I had to somehow go from zero to sixty as quickly as possible and that wasn’t the easiest task for me. 

I rolled out of bed and grabbed my uniform shirt to put on over my undershirt, stuffing it into the waist of my pants as I ran through the house toward the garage. A loud booming rattled the windows in the house and it took me a second to realize that it was storming outside and that it wasn’t an earthquake or nearby explosion. I made it into the equipment closet and forced myself to stop for two seconds to get my head going or I was going to face plant or something. I rubbed my eyes a couple of times and blinked several times real fast as I reached for my turnout gear to pull on. I hopped into the back of the ladder truck just as Cory flipped on the lights and sirens and pulled out of the garage.

We arrived at the scene of a multiple car wreck and a feeling of dread and death washed over me quickly. Traffic was already backed up for miles going in both directions and concerned bystanders were everywhere trying to help those that were hurt. It seemed as if we were the first ones on scene and in only a matter of seconds the truck was swarmed with people screaming for help either for themselves or for others.

“Fuck, man.” Tommy and I almost said at the same time. We opened the doors of the truck and went to work.

“You have to come quick! There’s a guy in the road that I don’t think is going to make it and there’s people trapped in a bus hanging off of the bridge over there! You have to do something quick!” The man was frantic and for a second I thought he might grab my arm and start dragging me over to these people.

“Yes sir. More units are on the way and we will assess the situation and get everyone taken care of.” I assured him.

I jogged over to a group of people huddled around a man lying in the middle of the interstate and I looked behind me to see if Jimmie and Pete had arrived in the ambulance yet. I motioned for them for head my way because this guy was not going to last long at all for sure.

I grabbed my radio to call for additional help. “Dispatch, this is Ladder 24 on scene. We’re going to need more units. Multiple injuries and send Air Life if at all possible.”

“Roger that, Ladder 24. Dispatching Air Life now.”

I surveyed the weather around me as lightning flashed and rain pelted my helmet and thick fireproof jacket that I was wearing. I honestly wasn’t sure if Air Life would be able to fly in this weather, but it looked like that would be the only chance at survival that a few of these people were going to have. With traffic like it was, the weather, and the extent of the injuries, getting someone to a hospital was going to be a fun task.

“We need help over here!”

I turned around to see who had yelled for help and saw a group of people helping a bloodied up person climb down from the flipped bus that had busted through the concrete railing on the bridge. Tommy fell in behind me, jogging behind me over to the bus. We made it just in time to help lower the tall, skinny man down from the flipped over bus and as if I wasn’t already in a shitty mood from everything else that I had been through, my heart plummeted to the pit of my stomach when the guy finally looked up with a weak smile on his face to thank us. It was Mike Dirnt from Green Day.

“Weren’t you the medic from last night?” He asked, his voice weak and pained.

“That’s me. My name’s Taylor and we’re going to get you taken care of. What’s hurting on you, buddy?”

“Everything really, but just my arm and shoulder mainly.”

Lightning struck somewhere very close followed by a ground rattling clap of thunder and the bus shifted against the broken concrete making a hair raising screeching noise that sent people scattering away from the wreckage. Instinctively and unsure of what the bus was going to do, Tommy and I threw ourselves around Mike to protect him. He started panicking. 

“Billie and Tre are still in there! You have to get them out before the bus goes over! Please!”

“Hey!” I cupped his bloody face in my thickly gloved hands. “I will get them out. I promise. I need you to calm down though, okay?”

He nodded that he understood, tears rimming his eyes. I took my thick smoke stained jacket off and wrapped it around his wet, shaking body, become almost immediately soaked myself. I looked up at Tommy who was looking back at me with a very unsure look on his face. He wasn’t dumb. He knew I was going to do whatever it took to get whoever was still in that bus out and he knew that I would stop at nothing even if it meant putting myself in harm’s way.

“Get me in the bus.” I said firmly.

“Taylor, let’s get him to the truck and get a game plan with Jeb before you do something stupid.”

“I have a game plan, Tommy. I’m going to the bus. It would be nice to have some help lifting them out though, but if not I’ll figure that part out too.”

I left my helmet lying on the side of the road beside Mike and Tommy’s foot and just like I said, I made my way over to the bus and climbed up on it with the help of some random people who had stopped to help. I lowered myself down through a shattered window into the complete wreck of a tour bus. A quick assessment revealed three bodies and the driver of the bus who was still hanging from the driver’s seat and lifeless. Tre was grunting in pain and calling out for Billie and the other person named Jeff, trying to drag his bleeding body up the bus to where the other two bodies were laying lifeless as well. Hearing Tre’ cry out for his motionless friends, his voice extremely pained and weak, was shredding my heart into a million pieces.

“Tre’, stop buddy. Let’s get you out of here.” I said, kneeling down beside him the best I could in the turned over bus.

“It’s you.” He said, recognizing me from last night. “I think I jinxed myself last night.”

“No, you didn’t. You were dead last night. Nobody is dying on my watch today.”

He tried to force a small smile, but that was short lived as pain overtook him with me throwing his arm around my neck and using every ounce of strength I had to help him to his feet. We turned around to face Tommy who had joined us and together we walked him to shattered window and sent him up and out of the bus. 

“Taylor, we have to hurry. The wind is picking up and this bus is not going to hold.” Tommy said.

I ignored him and checked the pulse of the guy that had to be Jeff and felt a weak pulse to my surprise. Tommy draped his limp body over his shoulder and slowly made his way back up the ever so slowly slanting bus. I checked the pulse of the driver and unfortunately did not feel a pulse on him so the plan was to get him out last if there was time. That left one.

“Billie?! Billie, talk to me. Can you hear me?”

The singer’s eyes fluttered open for a brief second and grew wide as he started choking on blood he was trying to cough up.

“Fuck!” I shouted, rolling him quickly onto his side. 

He lost consciousness again as I fought for the second time to hoist his weight up and over my shoulder to get him out of the bus. Tommy had disappeared out of the bus so I was on my own this time and my muscles were screaming at me in protest.

“Taylor, get out of that bus now! It’s going to go! Leave the rest and get out!”

Three different voices rang out through my radio that was clipped to the shoulder of my uniform shirt, scaring the shit out of me and making my heart beat harder than it already was. They knew me better than to think that I was going to leave anyone behind to save myself. I had no family, nothing to lose so dying was the last thing on my mind.

“G-get out, pl-please. Leave m-me.” A raspy voice said from my shoulders.

“I can’t do that. You go, we go.”

‘You go, we go’ was a department saying we used meaning that no man was going to be left behind and if something happened to that man it was going to happen to all of us. Every single time we had managed to save whoever and I had been saved a time or two myself, but today the streak was broken. The bus gave a violent lurch forward off the side of the bridge, sending me and Billie tumbling painfully back to the front of the bus. I landed hard on the dash of the bus, pain surging through my arm and shoulder that I had put out to break my fall. I felt like all breath had been sucked from my lungs but I had no time to concentrate on anything because I became weightless as the bus broke free from the support of the bridge and plunged towards the river below.

By the grace of God the bus hit, windshield first, tearing the windshield away from the frame of the bus allowing us a way to escape. The bus settled upright as water begin pouring in. I knew if I didn’t move quick, we were both going to be lucky not to drown. I grabbed Billie’s body and started working my way out through the windshield and into the fast moving river. With every ounce of energy and strength I had in me, I fought to get us both to shoreline where Tommy and others were waiting to pull us out. My boots finally dug in to the river bed and I gave one last hard, heave on Billie Joe to get him onto dry land and he was instantly surrounded by medics. I wanted so bad to be in the middle of them helping, but I was physically done.

“Taylor?” Tommy called.

I wanted to answer him but I was concentrating on trying to get a deep breath and spit the blood out of my mouth. I was freezing cold and wasn’t sure if the world was spinning or if I was just swaying in place. The last thing I saw before saying fuck it to fighting for life anymore, was a group of people taking turns doing CPR on a still lifeless Billie Joe…


	4. Still Breathing

It’s funny how, at some point in life, every little thing can betray you. People you thought you could trust you find out you really can’t, places you used to love to go that shut down, food you used to like that you can’t stand to eat now. Even the calming darkness that I had trusted to never let me go after I had given up on the river bank was beginning to betray me as my hearing and feeling started returning to me again. I wasn’t dumb, I knew I hadn’t died. I opted to keep my eyes shut for as long as I could, hoping that maybe, just maybe, the darkness would come back for me.

“Taylor, can you hear me?”

I recognized the soft voice of another good friend of mine who was a nurse in the intensive care unit at the big hospital downtown. The tone of her voice was very concerned indeed, but she also sounded like she was trying to do her job instead of just having poked her head in to check on me. I knew there was no turning back now into the darkness so, with an inward sigh of frustration, I opened my eyes to face whatever road lie ahead of me.

“Yay! It worked this time!”

Carly was standing over me, her stethoscope dangling from around her neck, her calming smile spreading widely across her face. 

“I’m back.” I mumbled. 

“Yeah, you’ve been out for a while since you’ve been back from surgery.”

“Surgery? How bad this time?”

“Well…we will start with the twenty-five stitches from your forehead down your cheek and then there’s also the broken collar bone, broken arm that you now have screws in, and you have a chest tube from the broken ribs and punctured lung you have, hence the reason why you’re staring at my face right now.”

“Shit.” I mumbled, as I took in what she said.

“Yeah. I’ll be back in a bit to check on you. Tom is here to see you. Get some rest.”

“Thanks, Carly.”

She smiled and walked out, holding the sliding glass door open for Tommy to come and then she shut it behind him. I noticed that he had gotten cleaned up and was back in his department t-shirt and uniform pants, his biceps straining against the constricting sleeves of his shirt. I would never be ashamed to admit how gorgeous Tommy was, but we both agreed very early on that that sort of relationship just wasn’t in the cards for us. I had no envy for whatever girl he chose to settle down with because she would have to deal with me making sure Tommy was treated right and I promised no mercy to any girl who ever did him wrong. 

“How are you feeling?” He asked, his voice a mix of concern and what almost sounded like an attitude. 

“I’m okay. How are you?”

“Well, I could answer that in several different ways. I’m tired. I’m sore. I’m hungry. Most of all though I’m torn between being worried sick and being pissed, so I guess all in all, I’m not doing too great at the moment.”

Yeah, he was definitely pissed and probably at me. His next question answered mine before I had time to even ask it.

“What the fuck were you thinking, Taylor?”

I sighed. “Tom, do we really have to do this now?”

“Did it ever cross your mind for a second that you could have very easily been killed?”

“Okay, first of all, get off of my ass. Every call we respond to we take that risk. Secondly, you have known me long enough to know that I will never, ever leave a person behind to save myself and myself only. Besides, it’s not like I have anything or anyone to live for anyway.”

“I don’t know where you get this fucked up notion from that you’re all alone in this world, Taylor. I’m going to tell you something that’s probably going to come out cheesy as hell but maybe it will open your eyes a little bit. You already know I don’t have any family, just like you. The department is my family. I love each and every one of those guys. You, you are on another level though. You are that sibling that I never had but wanted all of my life. That makes me protective over you and even more so because you are my little sister. I know you don’t need anyone to protect you but I can’t help how I feel. You are my family more than anyone else on this planet right now and I need you to stop thinking like you have no one because I’m here and I need you.”

I watched, somewhat in shock as he ran his hands through his hair nervously as if he couldn’t believe that he had finally told me those things. I knew that was the type of relationship we had, but we had never out right admitted these things to each other. His words had actually made me feel bad that I hadn’t thought of him or my department family when it came to my if-I-die-oh-well attitude.

“Tom, I’m sorry. I honestly have never really thought about it that way. After the hell that has been my life, you are the perfect brother to have and I appreciate it and love you for it.”

“I didn’t mean to spill my heart out, but you needed to hear it. So now that that is out of the way, how are you feeling?”

I gave him a weak smile. “Hurting. What happened after we got back to the bank?”

“Nothing really. You and Billie Joe were airlifted out and the rest were sent out by ambulance, typical wreck. There were five deaths I think.”

My heartbeat sped up which he noticed from the increased beeping of monitor on the wall.

He smirked. “Chill out, Tay. Billie Joe, Mike, Tre’ are fine. You definitely saved Billie Joe’s life. He’s in the room next to you. He’s bad, but he’s alive.”

“Thank go --- ouch, fuck!” I hissed as pain shot through my body.

“Hey, calm down and get some rest. I’m going to get out of here and back to the department. Oh, you better come up with a better excuse than your ‘poor pitiful me’ story for Jeb. He’s not happy, but it’s not like it’s the first time you’ve had to endure his wrath. Get some rest, Tay.”

“Joy.” I sighed. “Night, Tom. Thanks for everything.”

“Anytime, love. Oh, I’m moving in with you until you get healed. No arguing.” He said, bending down to plant a friendly kiss on my tender forehead.

“Sounds good.”

He slid the glass door shut behind him as the room went silent again which I wasn’t up for dealing with right now so I dug around until I found the remote for the tv and clicked it on. I somehow managed to find some new channel I had never heard of before that was playing rock music videos and I left it on that. A few seconds later Carly stuck her head in the door and asked if I was up for another visitor and I told her sure. I never expected Mike to walk in. He was cleaned up, dressed in a clean t-shirt and baggy track pants and his arm was casted in a sling.

“Hey! Uh, I just wanted to see how you were doing and feeling. Are you sure it’s okay if I come in?” He asked, seeming very unsure if he should or not.

“Of course it’s okay. Have a seat. Sorry, but I have to admit I’m a little star struck.”

He chuckled. “Please don’t be. I, on the other hand, am star struck.” He paused as if trying to find the right words to say. “What you guys did for us today, especially you though, I will never be able to thank you enough. You put your lives in danger to make sure as many people were out of the bus as possible and then you – I don’t know how in the hell you did what you did. I’m so sorry you got hurt but thank you so much.”

His voice had started to crack and tears were rimming his eyes, the sight of which tugged on my heartstrings a little harder than I wanted to admit.

“I’m glad we were able to help and hopefully prevented things from being any worse. How are you and everyone else doing?”

“I had a broken arm and dislocated shoulder which was an easy fix and Tre’ and Jeff are on the regular floor and should go home in a couple of days. Billie is pretty bad and they said the next seventy-two hours will be critical to how he comes out so I’m hoping for the best. We lost our driver but that’s it. It could have been much, much worse. How are you?”

“Eh, I’ll be okay. Nothing a few days of resting up can’t fix.”

He chuckled. “I’m sure it’s a little more than that, and I’m keeping you from resting up so I’m going to head back to the waiting room and try to get settled. I, uh, don’t know how much help I could be, but if you need anything at all, I’ll be out in the waiting room.”

“I really appreciate that. So you’re just going to hang out in the waiting room? Why don’t you take that couch so no one bother you? It pulls out into a bed.”

“I thought you couldn’t be back here after visiting hours?”

“You’re right but there are a few perks to being a medic and your best friend being the charge nurse and a fan.” I smiled, the stitches in my face burning in protest. “I get it if it’s weird to sleep in a room with someone you don’t know, but I don’t mind. I’m not going to sleep anytime soon so the offer is there and wherever you think you would be more comfortable.”

He thought for a second and smiled. “Well, if you’re sure, I’ll take you up on it.”

Carly, being the awesome person that she is, helped him get settled and we spent the next little bit making small talk, quickly getting comfortable with each other. Before we knew it we were talking like we had known each other forever and I had to admit that I was in a good deal of pain, but having Mike there to talk took my mind off of it. Despite my hardheadedness, Carly loaded me up with medication knowing I would appreciated it later and that pretty much ended my night. I went to sleep in a much better mood than I had been in. Yeah, I had been through some hell in my life the last few years, but what good was that going to do me going forward if I continued living with those ghosts? I made a promise to myself to start living for today and appreciate those I still had around me.


	5. Home Sweet Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Home from the hospital

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I suck at chapter titles if no one has noticed yet...

“Ow, ow, ow.” I mumbled, holding my throbbing side as I made one more sweep through the house making sure I hadn’t missed cleaning anything or picking anything up that was out of place.

“Alright, that’s it. Sit down, now. And so help me God I will duck tape your ass to that recliner if I have to.” Tommy threatened.

“Okay, okay. I’m going out to the hanger to chill out.” I said, raising my free arm in surrender.

Tommy groaned. “That’s not resting, Tay. You’re going to go out there and start messing with something on one of the planes. You didn’t make this big of a deal when I moved in a couple of weeks ago. What’s the big deal now?”

He smirked, knowing good and well why I was freaking out about the house being spotless. Billie Joe was being released from the hospital today but wasn’t up to making the trip back to California yet so he and Mike were going to be staying at the house until he felt ready to go home. Mike had been staying at the house when he wasn’t staying with Billie and Tre’ and Jeff had stayed for a couple of days before going back to California. Tommy was right, I hadn’t made this big of a deal about it before, and I honestly didn’t know why I was so nervous about it now.

“This is…different.” I said, knowing that was the most pathetic answer I could have given him.

“Just admit that you would lay down for him in a heartbeat and get it over with.”

“Oh fuck you! You better be glad I can’t throw anything at you right now, asshole.”

He disappeared down the hall, pissing himself laughing as I stood there actually having a mental battle with myself over if he was right or not. I shook my head to return back to reality and headed out the back door in the bright, hot Oklahoma sun. The swimming pool looked so good right now with the crystal clear water and the calming sound of the water fall, but of course I was no where near being able to swim. I walked across the yard and crossed the black asphalt taxiway my dad had built for his airplanes and entered a side door leading into the huge metal hanger where all of our airplanes were kept. There was so much that I could be doing on the planes right now, but I couldn’t do anything still with my injuries. I decided to behave and work on a remote controlled airplane I had been building a couple of years ago that I had never finished. That was still difficult to do as well with a huge cast on my arm now. I sighed and threw the piece I had in my hand across the table and decided to just enjoy the quiet and smell of aviation fuel.   
The day passed very boringly and slowly until late evening as the sun was going down. Tommy had grilled and prepared food for everyone working at the department tonight and the guys had brought the fire trucks out to the house to hang out and eat until it was time to head back or they got a call. We were all sitting around the pool laughing and having a good time, most of the jokes being on me and my injuries which was fine with me. I had earned the nicknames of ‘Frankenstein’ and ‘Scar Face’ thanks to the stitches still being in my face. I just laughed and rolled my eyes and let the guys have their fun. 

“Hey. BJ finally decided to come to life a little bit. Is it okay if we join you guys?” Mike appeared beside me and squatted down beside the chair I was sitting in.

“Hey! Hell yeah, you guys can join us. Why would you even think you had to ask? Come on! There’s plenty of food and alcohol if you want it. Sorry they’re being so loud. I hope we haven’t been keeping you guys from resting.”

“I actually haven’t heard a thing all evening. Let me go grab BJ.” He smiled.

I returned his smile. “Okay!”

Tommy’s gaze caught my eye and I looked over at him, to find him smirking of course. He was hell bent that there was something between me and Billie Joe and as bad as I wished there was, I wasn’t letting myself get my hopes up under any circumstances. I was tired of men for the time being and Tommy was working his way into that group as well. I flipped him off with my casted hand and took a long swig of my beer with my other arm.

“So were you guys partying like this before you showed up to save my life?” Billie Joe appeared beside my chair in the wheel chair he was still having to use to get around in. 

“I was sleeping, actually.” I chuckled. “This is the first time I’ve seen you in a few days. Welcome home! Well, not home but you get what I mean. How are you feeling?”

“Still really fucking sore, but every day gets better I think. Thank you so much for opening your home up to us and being so awesome. It means a lot to us. This place is fucking amazing by the way. And I want to see the hanger sometime before I leave.”

“Yeah sure!”

“How are you feeling?” He asked.

“Same as you I guess. Still sore and ready to be able to get back to work and my planes. I don’t do well with sitting still.”

Hurt flashed through his eyes and he looked down before speaking again, his voice almost inaudible over the guys being loud. “I’m, uh, sorry you’re going through this because of us. Because of me.”

I started shaking my head before he even finished speaking. “Nope, we aren’t even going down that road. No apologies allowed. C’mon, let’s go out to the hanger. These assholes are getting on my nerves.” I smiled.

Mike, Billie and myself made our way out to the hanger and I wasn’t dumb to the fact that almost all of the guys were watching us and smirking. That shit was going to get old really fast, but there would be a time and place other than right now for me to tell them off. I showed the guys all of the planes, what I could show them without climbing into them because none of us were physically able to climb into any of them right now. Billie promised he would be back to go for a ride in one of the stunt planes and I promised I was going to hold him to that, the thought of which made my heart race in a good way. I couldn’t deny that being around him had my stomach in knots constantly. Once I got tired of that feeling, I reminded myself of the mess I had just gotten out of and that made me return to reality.

The evening went on without the guys receiving a call but those who were working headed back to the station around ten that night. Tommy left for the night to go meet up with some chick he had been talking to, which left just myself, Billie and Mike. Mike laid down on the couch and quickly fell asleep, and there was just us watching Armageddon on tv.

“Oh shit.” Billie said, halfway through the movie.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I completely forgot about Mike helping change out my bandages before he went to sleep. I don’t want to wake him up, guess we can just do it tomorrow.”

“I don’t mind helping, if you’re okay with that.”

“Are you sure? I mean, it’s cool with me, I’m not bashful. I just have a couple of sort of low ones and don’t want you to feel uncomfortable or anything y’know?”

“Part of my job consists of cutting people’s clothes off. Pretty sure I’ve seen more balls throughout my career than a baseball umpire has.”

Billie found that funny and started laughing which quickly turned painful for him at which point he decided to call it a night. I helped him as much as I could get into bed and then changed out his several bandages, some of which were indeed very low. My stomach was knots the whole time and he looked away until I was finished, his attempt at trying to make things not awkward.

“Anything else I can do for you before I crash?” I asked him after I finished with his last bandage.

“No. Thank you though. I should be trying to help you out. I promise I’ll do something to make up for everything you’ve done for us as soon as I heal up.”

“No you’re not. Maybe just come back to say hi the next time you guys are in town or passing through.”

“I’ll definitely be doing that for sure.” 

We fell silent before he spoke again.

“You are an angel, Taylor. I can tell you’ve been hurt and pretty badly at that. You are a very special person and don’t let anything or anyone ever make you believe any differently. Some guy will be extremely lucky to have you.”

For whatever reason, it would have been extremely easy for me to tell him way more than he wanted to hear right then about my past, but I reminded myself that Tommy was the only one who would know my past. Certain parts of it anyway.

“Yeah, well, a guy is part of the reason for the hurt and right now being with a guy is the last thing on my mind.”

I stared down at the floor, finding the grey carpet suddenly very interesting. I jumped as Billie’s hand wrapped around mine and it took everything in me to keep myself from pulling my hand back.

“I’ve been down that road before and recently. Hang in there.”

I gave him a small smile. “Yeah. You should get some rest. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, I have a private plane lined up to get you back to California whenever you’re ready. Don’t feel rushed though, you’re welcome here anytime.”

“I, uh, I really appreciate that, Tay. Thanks.”

My heart fluttered hearing him give me nickname. “Night, BJ.”

“Night.”

I returned back to the living room to cover Mike up who was still sleeping peacefully on the couch and I headed back down the hall to my bedroom, now wide awake with no desire to sleep. Memories from my past flooded my mind, bringing me back to times when things were much better and more recently when things were much worse. I wish I could have pushed the memories out of my head and just went to sleep, but I took it a step further and pulled out old picture albums from my closet and flipped through pictures from a time in my life long gone.

I had just laid down again and was trying to finally go to sleep when I begin hearing grunting and muffled noises coming from up the hallway where Billie was sleeping. I slid painfully out of bed again and was just going to peek in on him to make sure he was alright, but I opened the door to find him writhing in the bed, still asleep and repeatedly saying ‘help.’ He was drenched in sweat and I knew he would be hurting from moving so much.

“Hey, it’s okay. It’s alright, Billie wake up!” 

“No! Help, please! Please help us!”

“Billie Joe!”

He jerked awake and immediately grimaced and balled up in pain, as much as he could anyway having had back surgery just a few days ago. He was a sweaty mess and breathing heavily, from whatever dream he had had and from the pain. He wouldn’t look me in the eye, but I saw his face and red, tear rimmed eyes. Yeah, I should have made sure he was okay and went back to my room. I should have done anything besides what I did. I grabbed a wet cloth from the bathroom to wipe his face and I laid down beside him in the bed. Whether it was his doing or my doing, I couldn’t tell, but the gap between us closed and he laid right up against me as if I was the only one that could protect him.

“I’m sorry.” He said quietly and breathlessly.

“It’s okay. You’re okay and everyone is okay. Relax and get some sleep. I’ll be right here.”

“Okay.”

His breathing eventually slowed and his tense body relaxed as he drifted off back to sleep. I should have gotten up. I should have let him be and went back to bed. Instead, I cut the bedside lamp off, got as comfortable as I could next to his shirtless body, and I, too, drifted off to sleep.


	6. Equipment Locker Confessions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kind of long...sorry about that!

Life slowly returned to normal over the next few months bringing with it a lot of mixed feelings and busy schedules. Billie and Mike had returned back to California and as of the last time I had heard from any of them, they were all healing well and trying to carry on with their lives. Nothing was ever mentioned about the night I had spent with Billie in bed after the dream he had, and I of course said nothing about it though I couldn’t quit thinking about it. Part of me wished there could be many more nights of that, minus the injuries, bad dreams, and..clothes. I knew that would never ever happen and pretty soon Green Day would be back on the grid and I would probably never hear from them again. That was probably for the best.

My life was slowly returning to normal as well and I had returned back to work and back to flying. I had been crazy busy the last couple of weeks between being busy at work and getting ready for the town’s big airshow coming up this weekend that me and my guys were going to be doing a mock air fight in. That took a lot of careful planning and preparation and even though we had practiced a good bit, I was still nervous about it all. I was excited about it though.

“Taylor, Jep wants to see you in his office.” Brendon said, breaking my concentration on studying patterns for this weekend.

“Okay, thanks.”

I made my way to Jep’s office and found him and Tommy sitting and talking. I knocked on the door frame and walked in.

“You wanted to see me, Captain?”

“Yep. You’re little stunt that you pulled a few months ago with the bus was you disobeying orders to get out of the bus and I’m sure you haven’t forgotten that you ignored those orders.” Jep said, his voice stern but there was almost a look of humor in his eye.

“Yes sir.” I answered, not quite sure where he was going with this.

“As a lieutenant you know that disobeying orders is grounds for punishment. I would do it to everyone else which means I have to discipline you as well. Tommy brought to my attention what I feel will be an appropriate punishment.”

I looked at Tommy as if to say a very sarcastic ‘Thanks’ and looked back at Jep, waiting to learn what my punishment would be.

“Today is the photo shoot for the Women’s firefighting fundraising calendar and being as you are the only female in this department and I feel like we should have someone representing us since we were invited to, that leaves you for the job.” That slight smirk played across his face as my heart sunk.

“Seriously?!” I asked.

I would rather have been suspended without pay for however long he saw fit than have to go through this. I considered myself a very simple girl. If I wasn’t in my uniform or turnout gear, I was in sweat pants or track pants, hair in a ponytail and no makeup. I owned maybe one dress just in case I needed it and that was about it. I had seen this calendar before and half of the girls were just some random pretty faces they pulled off the streets and dolled up to look sexy. I hated doing the intentional sexy look thing. This was going to be pure torture.

“Yes, I am serious, Lieutenant. I find no reason in wasting someone’s time by playing jokes.” Jep answered. “The photo shoot starts at one and they are expecting you first so you can get to your practice for the air show this evening. Get going Lieutenant.”

“But…”I started to argue, but I knew there was no point. “Ugh. Fine.”

“If it’s any comfort, I’m going with you just to make sure you don’t jump ship or anything.” Tommy smirked.

“And this was your idea?”

“Maybe?..” He offered, unsure of how he wanted to answer.

“It would have been a lot easier and a lot less painful to just drive a knife through my heart.”

“Aw come on, Taylor. Give yourself some credit. You’re gorgeous and have a great body and it’s for a good cause.”

“Hole’s getting deeper, Tom. Might want to quit while you can still climb out.” I warned as I grabbed my bag and got into my truck.

I literally felt an almost overwhelming sense of dread as we headed to the repair center where we took the firetrucks for maintenance.. I groaned as we pulled in seeing all of the girls that were lined up and being fitted for what they would be wearing. Tommy had a smirk on his face as he enjoyed all of the eye candy until his eyes caught mine and he was met with a not so welcoming look.

“Uh, sorry. Let’s go get this over with.” He said clearing his throat and getting out of the truck.

With a little bit of threatening the hair, makeup, and wardrobe people, I got off fairly easily in the end with what I had to go through. They simply just straightened my hair and put a small amount of makeup on and put me in a Moore Fire Department t-shirt that the sleeves had been cut out of and the length shortened to that of a sports bra. I put on my turnout overalls and took various pictures on and around the firetruck and some with a firehose of course. It was against the rules to make a sexy firefighting calendar without a girl playing with a hose right? After about two hours of being tortured, my punishment was over and all I had to do was pick which picture I wanted them to use.

“You look super hot for what it’s worth.” Tommy said as I rejoined him and several of the other guys from the department that had dropped in to enjoy my agony and the other eye candy.

“It’s worthless so shut up.”

He threw his hands up in surrender, a smirk still plastered on his face.

“So where do I go to choose the photo so I can get the hell out of here?”

“Actually, we already sent someone to go choose the photo.” Brendon said.

“What? Who? You guys are determined to put me through hell with this aren’t you?”

“Well, you’re determined to put us through hell at every call with your fearless ass, so consider us even.” Frank said.

I ran my hands through my hair which I was not used to leaving down. “Fair enough, I suppose.”

Tommy took a side step to look around me. “Looks like they’re finished. Here they come now.”

With my hands on my hips I turned around to see who was coming toward us, expecting it to be a few guys from the department and I was ready to grill them on what picture they had chosen. I never expected to come almost face to face with Billie Joe, Mike, Tre’, and Jeff, all four with smiles on their faces and very noticeable wondering eyes. For whatever reason, in that second I felt extremely vulnerable and wish I had more clothes on.

“Holy shit! Hey guys!” I managed to say.

“Y’know, I’m glad this isn’t standard uniform for women because I probably would have died that day on the bus anyway.” Billie Joe said.

“Very funny.”

“This,” Mike said sliding his hand down next to my side as if to be showing off my stomach. “Is how she was able to save us all that day.”

“No shit.” Tre’ and Jeff said together.

“I work in a male dominated field, guys. I have to be able to fend for myself. Enough about me though, what has you guys back in town?”

“Just passing through and wanted to say hi and see if you and anyone else were up for dinner tonight on us.” Billie Joe said.

“I actually have an airshow here tomorrow and have to get to practice but after that, dinner sounds great!”

“How about this. Taylor, go practice and I’ll go grab some food and go back to the station and cook and we can eat there tonight?” Tommy offered.

“Sounds good to us.” Billie Joe said. “Any chance we tag along and watch you practice? I still want to see you fly.”

“Yep. I could actually use a co-pilot, actually.”

“Fuck yeah!”

I took a few minutes to get my hair pulled back up, get the makeup off of my face and get a regular t-shirt and running shorts on before we headed to the airport. My stomach returned to that nervous state it had stayed in the whole time Billie was at the house, especially since he decided to ride with me in my truck out to the airport. It was nice to catch up with him and hear what they had been up to and how everyone was getting back to normal. 

“Hey, Taylor.” He said right before we got out of my truck.

“Yeah?” I asked.

“You really did look sexy as hell out there today.”

A rather sexy smirk spread across his face as he got out of the truck which I’m glad he did because my Ray Ban Aviators weren’t going to hide the fact that my face turned a deep shade of crimson and I was almost sure my heart beat was visibly pounding against my t-shirt. I couldn’t stop the smile that appeared on my face as I grabbed my flight bag out of the backseat. I didn’t know how to take Billie Joe right now, but for now I was just going to keep going about my business.

A few hours later we were all back at the firehouse, the department guys going on about their business and showing Billie and the guys around, and the rest of them busy getting dinner ready. Tommy was a pretty good cook and enjoyed making big meals like this for everyone, something I didn’t complain about. I was all about some good food. Once the firehouse tour was over, Billie and the guys started back talking about flying in the stunt planes earlier, like a bunch of little boys who had been waiting their whole life to fly in a plane and finally got to.

“What are you doing over here all alone?” Billie Joe asked, walking up to me in the corner of the kitchen I was hiding out in.

“Enjoying the only beer I’m going to allow myself to drink tonight.”

“Yeah? Why only one?”

“I try not to drink too much or at all before an air show. Especially tomorrow since we will be doing some pretty intense flying. You guys enjoying yourselves?”

“Yeah! It’s nice to see how things go on this side of the fire department. I was hoping maybe you could show me the trucks and equipment though.”

“Yeah, sure. Come on.”

We made our way down to the garage and I showed him everything on our engine and ladder trucks and then took him to the equipment locker where all of our equipment was stored in a similar fashion to a sports locker room. I walked him over to my locker and walked him through step by step on how to put on all of the gear and let him try mine on. As if he wasn’t sexy enough, adding all of the gear made him even sexier. I definitely wouldn’t mind him saving my life sometime.

“This is fucking nuts.” He mumbled through the oxygen mask he had on, taking a look at himself.

“Pretty cool, huh?”

“It’s awesome. Maybe I’ll pursue this career in my next life or something.”

He removed my helmet and took the oxygen mask off, clipping it back on my thick jacket like I had shown him. The locker room fell silent as he continue to look around at everything and I focused on my beer I was still sipping.

“Taylor, I know I haven’t brought it up, but I haven’t and won’t forget what you did for me that night I had that dream.” He said quietly, finally looking back at me.

I hadn’t been expecting that to ever come back up and I wasn’t sure where he was going with the conversation but I didn’t want it to get out of hand or awkward. “Oh. Yeah, it was no big deal. I guess calming people and comforting them is just part of my being and it’s hard to just let things like that go.”

“Is that why you do this? Or did that happen after you became a fireman? What made you want to be a fireman anyway?”

I paused for a second, trying to decided how much I wanted to tell him. We were treading on sensitive subjects again. “It was the closest thing I could do to what I did before.”

“What did you do before?”

“I was a rescue swimmer in the Coast Guard. I was stationed in Kodiak, Alaska.

“No shit? Wow. You went from one hellacious job to another. What made you get out of doing that?”

We were getting a little more sensitive here, but I felt it okay to go a little bit further. “I had to. We were on our way home from a call one night and I had two critical fishermen in the back of the helicopter I was tending to. The weather was shit, sheets of hard, driving rain and winds over ninety miles an hour. We were flying low over rough seas and fifty foot waves for better visibility and our pilot had a seizure. The co-pilot looked away to take care of him, just long enough for the helicopter to lose enough altitude for a wave to catch us. We tumbled across the water and then started to sink. I managed to get everyone out and into a raft, but unfortunately I was the only one that survived for whatever reason. I had to leave because of my injuries. I was told that I would never have my physical ability back to 100 percent like I needed it to be so I was medically discharged. This was the next best thing so here I am.”

“Fucking, shit, Taylor. I’m sorry to hear that. Wow.”

“It’s all good. What doesn’t kill you, only make you stronger, right? In a sense anyway.”

“What are you two doing down here in the equipment closet?” Mike asked in a sinuating tone as him and Jeff appeared in the doorway. 

“Well, I have to say I was expecting no clothes and you two are fully clothed and then some.” Jeff smiled.

“Oh my gosh, you two. Is that seriously all men think about?” I asked.

“For the most part, yes.” Mike answered without hesitation. “Sex and food, which is why we came down here. Food’s ready.”

“For a second I thought you were about to say you came down here for sex. I was just going to show myself out and leave you three to it.”

The three of them look appalled as we all laughed and headed upstairs to eat.


	7. True Colors

Morning came quickly and I found myself back at the airport going over one last one run through of our routine later today with my team members and then doing the pre-flight on my airplane for the day. The skies were filled with airplanes flying in for the day and pilots going for joy rides before the show started. I loved being at the airport around my airplanes and other pilots. There was something about taking to the skies that calmed and relaxed me more than anything else. I ran my hand over the sleek black and lime green paint job of my P-51 Mustang wishing that my Dad was here to fly with me. It had been a long time since I had seen or talked to my Dad and I didn’t know if I would ever see him again.

“Well, well, well. Looks like you haven’t changed a bit.”

I turned around and found several of the guys and girls that I had served with in the Coast Guard back in Alaska. I talked to them over the phone every now and then but I hadn’t seen most of them since I moved back after my accident. I had no idea they were coming and it was so awesome to catch up with them all, but I was in for another surprise as well. 

“Be safe today!” A four-year-old boy told me after I had signed an autograph for him and shown him my plane.

“Thanks little buddy!”

“Oh my gosh, Taylor! You’re such a huge inspiration to me! Can I have your autograph please?!” Tre’ yelled as he ran up to me.

“I’d be more than happy to, but it seems as if I’m only signing balls today, guys.”

For whatever reason, it seemed like every person I had signed an autograph for this morning, I had signed it on some kind of sports ball which had me puzzled because there was nothing sports related going on out here today. I meant it in a half joking/provocative way and half was the truth.

“Even better!” Tre’ said excitedly as he quickly unbuckled his belt, unbuttoned his shorts and undid his zipper.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hey, this is a family event! Holy shit!” I managed to say in the midst of pissing myself laughing.

He made a pouty face complete with his lip stuck way out and his arms crossed. “I just wanted an autograph.”

I shook my head and reached behind me, grabbing a printed picture of me and my flight teammates with some of our airplane statistics on it and signed it for him with a silver sharpie. I even had a lollipop to give him.

“Happy now?” I asked him.

“Yes!” He smiled.

“Don’t be surprised if he tries to take you up on that ball signing thing later.” Mike mumbled to me.

“Oh jeez. Sports balls only guys.”

“These balls have played lots of sports.” Tre smirked.

“I can’t even right now. How come you guys didn’t mention you would be here today?”

“We figured you knew already. We’re listed in the program under special guest performance. Figured you would have heard it at some point.” Billie Joe said, his mood not cheery like it had been last night.

“Nope. I literally go from my truck to my airplane and back to my truck again. I haven’t heard much about any plans. They tell me when I’m up next and I head for whatever plane.”

“You’re listed in here like twice under two different planes. How many planes do you fly?!” Mike asked.

“I’ll be in the T-6 Texan for opening of the show and then I do a solo routine in my little Viper plane down there and the P-51 here is..just here in case it’s needed for anything.” I answered, not wanting to give away the excitement of the surprise mock air fight we would be doing later this afternoon. “So you guys are just here to hang out or you’re playing?”

“We’re playing.” Billie answered. “Our first performance since the wreck.”

“Oh, this day is just getting better and better! I can’t wait! C’mon, let’s go grab some breakfast. I’m hungry and I have a pilots meeting to get to in a bit.”

We grabbed some breakfast and headed to the VIP pilots lounge and ate and talked until I had to go for my meeting by which point Tommy had arrived to keep the guys company. The air show started and I took Mike up with me for the opening flights and then we all sat out and watched the various performances until I got the heads up that my solo was coming up. My Viper plane was one of my favorites because I could get in the air and do just about anything I wanted to and not have to worry about damaging my plane. I gave it everything I had up in the air today and judging by the cheers as I taxied back to the ramp to park my plane, I think entertained everyone pretty good.

“I think that was one of your best performances yet, Tay. That was awesome.” Tommy said as I rejoined everyone.

“Yeah? I felt that one for sure. Did you video it?”

“Sure did. The guys went to get ready for their performance. They said for us to watch from beside the stage and they would meet us there.”

“Hell yeah!”

The guys’ special appearance surprised a lot of people at the show and they put on a hell of a show as always. After it was over, we returned back to the pilots lounge and I changed flight suits to get ready for the mock air battle that was coming up. Tommy had let it slip about the battle so the guys knew what was going down. I had been excited about it up to this point, but whether it was from pulling some G’s in the Viper or just something I was coming down with, I wasn’t feeling the very best and wasn’t really looking forward to it anymore.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m getting word that we have some aircraft in the area that seem to have ill intent. We will be keeping a very close eye on this situation and will call in our highly trained Black Knight Flight Team if need be. I’m being told now that they have been alerted and are on stand by. Until I hear differently though, we are going to keep this show going and keep having a great time here this afternoon.” The announcer said to the crowd, setting the stage for the fight to begin.

“Five minutes to prop turn.” My radio rang out.

“This is intense shit.” Mike said.

“Well guys, if I don’t make it back, it’s been a pleasure.” I said as I stood up and untied the sleeves of my flight suit from around my waist and put it on properly.

“Nonsense!” Tre’ said. “Never speak like you’re not coming home soldier. Billie here wouldn’t know what to do with himself if you didn’t come back.”

“Oh fuck you.” Billie said, still not in the best of moods like he normally was.

“Now I know where this feeling is coming from! This feels like an old war movie only it’s a chick getting into the plane instead of the guy. Nevertheless, Billie, this is where you kiss her and tell her to come home safe!” Mike said.

I’m pretty sure my heart free fell into the pit of my stomach at the thought of Billie Joe kissing me, which didn’t help the already slight nausea I was feeling. I wasn’t where to look or who to look at the decrease the awkwardness and mind my own business but in the process of trying to find somewhere neutral to look, I caught the death glare that Billie shot Mike and the annoyed face he had been sporting all day intensified greatly.

“I think I’ll pass. She’s had plenty of support from males all day today. She doesn’t need mine.” Billie finally said, not bothering to look at me.

It suddenly hit me that maybe he was talking about when my Coast Guard buddies were with me this morning and they had all hugged me and one of them had politely kissed my cheek. That was the only thing that would make sense with the way he was acting and even with that, we weren’t dating and he hadn’t even expressed the slightest interest in me other than his occasional compliment, so why would he even be feeling that way because of his morning? Regardless, his true colors were finally coming through and I even though I had let myself start falling for him a little bit, I was now proud that I hadn’t let myself hit rock bottom just yet and the way he was acting now, was my safety net from hitting rock bottom.

“It’s okay, Mike. I’ve been abandoned by every male figure that’s found their way into my life so far, so maybe it’s time I do a little abandoning of my own.”

None of the guys had been expecting that response, including Billie whose face softened considerably. The awkwardness was thick at the moment and I was happy that my three teammates Keith, Steve, and John wheeled up to the open entrance of the hanger right then, yelling for me to come on. I dramatically took off running as the whole battle was being filmed and played on a huge screen out in the grass in between the taxiways.

Over the last few weeks we had been working with a film maker to record dramatic radio chatter and film in cockpit scenes to make the mock battle as real and dramatic as we could. I had completely stoked about it all but now that I wasn’t feeling well and my mood had been ruined by yet another guy, I just wanted to concentrate on flying and go home.

We quickly got the planes in the air and met up with the other flight team portraying the enemies and the battle started. We fired off specially made guns we had put on the planes that fired blank rounds but still gave the sound effect and we occasionally dipped low behind some trees where we had crews set up to set off explosives which simulated explosions. After our planning it was decided that I wasn’t going to survive this battle so after lining my plane up with the dirt runway I was going to land on, I set off a fire work on the wing of my plane to simulate my plane being hit. I started barrel rolling the plane in an ‘out of control’ manner and concentrated on how much time I had left to right the plane and land.

“I’m hit! I’m hit!” I yelled over my radio, being played to the audience.

“Black Knight One, bail out now!” Keith yelled over his radio.

I righted the plane at the last second and touched down on the dirt as the crew set off fireworks for my ‘crash’. I’m glad the tree line was hiding us from the crowd because that was the worst landing I had ever made and I had landed on one wheel, almost catching the tip of my right wing in the dirt. That wouldn’t have been fun and that was my cue to call it a day. I arranged for my plane to get back to the airport and I caught a ride home and went straight to bed.

“Tay, you awake?”

I heard the door open slowly as light from the hallway trickled in, bring me out of my sleep. I saw Tom standing at the door decided due to feeling like I was going to puke if I moved, I stayed still instead of sitting up.

“I am now. What’s up? What time is it?”

“Nine pm. I’m sorry to wake you up, I just wanted to check on you after what happened in the hanger and then you never came back.”

“Yeah I’m good. I guess I have some kind of virus or something, I feel like shit.”

“Do you need something?”

“No. Ah, shit. I’ve got to go start flying the planes back here.” I groaned.

“I took care of it and helped Keith get them back before it started raining. The Viper got put up at the airport so I’ll give you a ride in the morning. Hey, about what happened with Billie Joe –“

Billie Joe was the last person I wanted to talk about right now. “Don’t, Tom. I don’t want to talk about him right now. I wondered how long it would take before he went all spoiled rock star and shit. Maybe now you will lay off about there being something between us. Not that there was but if there had been anything there, its over now.”

Tom sighed. “I know he was a dick. For what it’s worth though, he acknowledged that and felt bad.”

“It’s not worth anything, Tom. He can go back to his rockstar life and forget that we ever crossed paths. I’m not talking about this anymore.”

“Okay, sunshine. Call me if you need something. I’m always here for you, Tay, whether you have anyone else or not.”

He bent down and kissed my forehead before walking out of my room. I thought about what he had said for a few minutes before I forced myself back to sleep to make the nausea go away.

Morning came bright and early and while I felt slightly better, I still felt like crap. Tom dropped me off at the airport and I made my way to the hanger to get the Viper out and ready to fly back to my house. I made a quick walk around to make sure everything was okay and I was just about to climb up onto the wing to get ready to head out when I heard my name called. I turned around and saw Billie Joe running towards me from the direction of a running charter jet on the ramp. I continued what I was doing.

“Can we talk for a minute, Taylor?” He asked.

“I don’t think we really have anything to talk about, Billie.”

“We do. That mock air fight was fucking nuts and so real. I can’t get your voice out of my head saying you were going down and then the fireworks…it seemed a little too real.”

I looked down at him through my sunglasses and he had an almost terrified look on his face, definitely in a way different mood than he had been in yesterday.

“It almost was too real. I made a really shitty landing, but like everything else in my life, I survived it.”

“Taylor, I was going through some personal things yesterday and I was extremely rude and that wasn’t fair to you. I’m sorry and what you said hit me hard.”

I gave him a weak smile. “Billie Joe, you performed yesterday, you guys are back. What happened here is now just a bad dream. Look ahead and leave the rest in the past.”

“I don’t think I can do that, Taylor.”

“I think you can and should.”

I buckled the last of my safety belts and flipped on the switches to get everything started on the plane.

“Clear prop!” I yelled loudly, a signal to anyone near that I was about to start the plane. This particular time it was also my cue to Billie Joe that our conversation was over. I started the airplane and quickly started taxiing toward the runway so I could just get home and go back to bed.


End file.
